Spring Break
Donors are lifeblood of community, blood drive organizers say
Mary Lochner
Issue date: 7/31/07 Section: Features
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Platelets, plasma and red blood cells are needed by Alaskans all the time - and the main way to get them is from donated blood.
"It's real, it happens every day," said David Large, director of marketing and public relations for the Blood Bank of Alaska. "Heart surgeries, burn victims, accidents. In the workshop, having a serious accident with a saw. There's a lot of usage that happens behind the scenes, and they all add up."
The Blood Bank of Alaska is the single provider of blood products for the whole state of Alaska - a total of 22 hospitals. For two months this year - January and May - the bank broke its own records for the number of blood units used by Alaskans.
"Summer's one of our most critical times," Large said. "Everyone's out enjoying Alaska. The last thing they're thinking about is donating blood. We have an increase in automobile accidents because there's more traffic on the road. Everyone's doing recreational activities. People are falling off ladders, getting hurt - it's constant. Then you have the shootings, car accidents."
Meeting the state's blood needs for procedures such as open-heart surgeries, organ transplants, or support for chemotherapy, is a continual crusade.
Then, there are the unforeseen catastrophes that invariably punctuate the year - car accidents, shootings and the innumerable personal disasters one can meet in Alaska's great outdoors. When it's at code red, the blood bank has a one-day supply of a particular blood type. But a single car accident can wipe out its supply even when it's above code red.
"If something like the Virginia Tech shooting would have happened here, there's no way we could've sustained enough blood to help every one of those patients in need," Large said. "We would be calling the Lower 48, importing blood to help those patients out."
Blood imported from the lower 48 states takes 14 hours to get to Alaska. If Alaskans were to react to an emergency situation by donating in higher numbers, it still takes three days to process and screen the blood for safe medical use.
"It's real, it happens every day," said David Large, director of marketing and public relations for the Blood Bank of Alaska. "Heart surgeries, burn victims, accidents. In the workshop, having a serious accident with a saw. There's a lot of usage that happens behind the scenes, and they all add up."
The Blood Bank of Alaska is the single provider of blood products for the whole state of Alaska - a total of 22 hospitals. For two months this year - January and May - the bank broke its own records for the number of blood units used by Alaskans.
"Summer's one of our most critical times," Large said. "Everyone's out enjoying Alaska. The last thing they're thinking about is donating blood. We have an increase in automobile accidents because there's more traffic on the road. Everyone's doing recreational activities. People are falling off ladders, getting hurt - it's constant. Then you have the shootings, car accidents."
Meeting the state's blood needs for procedures such as open-heart surgeries, organ transplants, or support for chemotherapy, is a continual crusade.
Then, there are the unforeseen catastrophes that invariably punctuate the year - car accidents, shootings and the innumerable personal disasters one can meet in Alaska's great outdoors. When it's at code red, the blood bank has a one-day supply of a particular blood type. But a single car accident can wipe out its supply even when it's above code red.
"If something like the Virginia Tech shooting would have happened here, there's no way we could've sustained enough blood to help every one of those patients in need," Large said. "We would be calling the Lower 48, importing blood to help those patients out."
Blood imported from the lower 48 states takes 14 hours to get to Alaska. If Alaskans were to react to an emergency situation by donating in higher numbers, it still takes three days to process and screen the blood for safe medical use.
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